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Greetings from San Diego Comic Con!

Friday, July 25, 2014

The Physics Central Team has traveled west to the Mecca of all things Nerdy: San Diego Comic Con. Here's this year's team, including this Comic Con first-timer.

Clockwise from back left: artist David Ellis, Agent Utah, Hyperspace, Halfstache, Quantum and Spectra herself (aka Rebecca Thompson). Most of the photos in this post are courtesy of the super-equipped Quantum.

It's lovely weather here in San Diego, but we're mostly staying inside enjoying the many amazing sights of this awesome gathering. Take a look after the jump.

We're here to hawk the Spectracomic book series—about a young girl who discovers she's a human laser, and must use her powers to fight the forces of evil—and the other awesome comics produced by APS. Spectra was created and written by Rebecca Thompson, Royal Overlord of Outreach at the American Physical Society (APS). Thompson's reign has brought great prosperity to the realm of PhysicsCentral.com, and she is adored by her subjects—mainly because she brings them to Comic Con.

There's been a great response from the crowds here. We're talking to lots of scientists and teachers, and many, many people who love comics and science. These folks are overjoyed that APS has combined the two.

The most adorable Batman we've ever seen.

With so many people at the con, we're handing our comics and other souvenirs non-stop.

APS is of course not the first group to create educational comic books around science. A panel discussion on Thursday highlighted some great examples (during the Q&A someone chimed in and mentioned our awesome booth). Artist Nick Dragotta talked about the amazing How Toons comics, which have been appearing in Maker magazine for about 10 years. The comics show kids how to build awesome contraptions (like a soda bottle submarine or a paper robot) with supplies you can find at the hardware store. They have a new book out out that's focused on renewable energy.

Keep an eye out for more blog posts from Comic Con coming up. Plus, I'll be talking more about our time at Comic Con and about the intersection of physics and comics on next week's Physics Central Podcast, so be sure to check that out.